Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 over fifty years ago, yet he captured many attributes of our modern society with such authenticity it is hard to believe he imagined it. The parallels between the world of history and the world we live in are hard to ignore. Bradbury describes the entertainment devices adhering to today’s society. First, Bradbury states, “Behind her, the walls of the room were flooded with green, yellow, and orange fireworks sizzling and bursting to some music composed almost completely of trap drums, tom toms, and cymbals” (Bradbury 29). Bradbury’s description suggests the walls are similar to a television.
Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451 is considered to be science fiction. The book was about a society where books were illegal and firemen started fires instead of putting them out. Not all books were illegal in Bradbury’s society though. But if you were caught with a book it would get burn. Many people claim firemen were similar to how our firemen are today(putting out fire and saving people lives) instead of causing fires.
Neil Gaiman was inspired by Ray Bradbury’s ideas and wrote, “Ideas—written ideas—are special. They are the way we transmit our stories and our thoughts from one generation to the next. If we lose them, we lose our shared history. We lose much of what makes us human”. Set in the twenty-fourth century, author Ray Bradbury introduced a society where the media controlled the public and censorship had taken over.
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury established a society in which they are no limits to the vehicles they drive in order to blind the community of their curiosity. Vehicles, no matter the size or shape have speed that not many cars should not be pushed to. In Montag’s society, as a result of this many citizens including one of Mildred’s friend states that she drives at such a speed not to get jailed by the government that she doesn’t clearly see her environment when driving her car. Mildred being used to this responds as if she has been through this scenario a numerous number of times when she looks out the window and only sees blurs and can’t really interpret her environment. Clarisse explaining to Montag, “If you showed a driver a green blur,
Fahrenheit 451 is a book written by Ray Bradbury that describes a time in the future when all literature is forbidden. Books are a rare sight and if they are owned by a person they can be placed under arrest. Firemen are called in to reported houses that contain books to burn the house down. Firemen have rules such as, answer the alarm quickly, start the fire quickly, burn everything, report back to the firehouse immediately, stay alert for next alarm. Guy Montag is a fireman who enjoys starting the fires.
In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Beatty and Montag had different perspectives on books. Beatty and Montag were firefighters, and the firefighters burned the books since they were against the law in this society. Although Montag was curious about the books and what the government was hiding, Beatty was curious about the books but he thought they were fake knowledge and just messed people up. Montag had been hoarding books in his house and Beatty knew this, Beatty told him the books didn’t contain anything special and he had a day to return it else they would burn it.
In this excerpt from Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury develops Montag’s character by using a disgruntled tone that reveals how Montag's emotions are affected by his job as a firefighter and by raising a question to readers, which alludes to the fact that Montag is no longer content with living in his naïve society. The phrase “boom! It's all over.” elicits that Montag understands that someone poured themselves into their writing, and firefighters come to extinguish their words without a second thought. It is simply gone, in a minuscule amount of time. He shows remorse for the books he burned, and sees the burnings from a new perspective- that books are valued.
Bradbury wanted to emphasize the dangerous world of F451. Clarisse was killed by the “normal” people who live without care for others. In the beginning of the book, Clarisse says to Montag, “ I’m afraid of children my own age. They kill each other” (30). Bradbury sets Clarisse apart from the other children.
“Do you know why books such as this are important? Because they have quality. And what does the word quality mean? To me, it means texture” (Bradbury). By texture, Ray Bradbury implies that books provide knowledge and wisdom that is needed in a society.
451 degrees fahrenheit is the temperature at which books will burn, but it is also similar to the title of Ray Bradbury's book, Fahrenheit 451. It is a story about Guy Montag, an ordinary fireman who burns books. That is until he starts to get curious about books and why they are burned. On top of that Guy meets a 16 year old girl named Clarisse who makes him question society further pushing to want to search for the truth. Clarisse is a foil to Montag as she contrasts Montag's blind compliance with her need to ask questions and her attention to details which shows Montag the overall theme of the loss of humanity this society has come to.
Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a both a prophetic story for the coming generations as well as a reflection on the time in which it was written. A time when Senator McCarthy promoted fear and hatred. A time when new technologies emerged and TV was overtaking literature. A time when censorship wanted to rid the public of things that could corrupt or present a different world view in the fear that it may mold the public towards said view. Bradbury’s presentation of books as an object of changing and molding a mind for the greater good stems from how he was raised.
Playing video games, watching Youtube, surfing the web, looking at social media and watching TV are what people spend nearly all their spare time doing. Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury, is a book about a world in which education and knowledge have been tossed aside in the pursuit of entertainment. The book can be seen as a warning about how social interactions have decreased and how people have become too obsessed with entertainment. Bradbury shows how dreadful it would be if people ceased to socialize with one another by exaggerating the apathy the people of Fahrenheit 451. An example of their lack of interaction with one another is among the families in the book.
Major problems exist in every civilization. The various issues that different civilizations deal with, such as hunger and homelessness, are diverse. Ray Bradbury writes of a horrible civilization. Despite how awful his civilization was, it had some similarities to the real world. There are many similarities between the society in Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451 and the contemporary world, including drug usage, state censorship, and technological use.
Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every other; then all are happy, for there are no mountains to make them cower, to judge themselves against.” (Bradbury 56) The logic behind this is to keep everyone the same in order to avoid problems. (STEWE 2)
Dystopia We all want the future to be superlative but sometimes too many advances can have a detrimental effect on society. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the society has put a lot of emphasis on technology, making relationships trivial. The government has put a ban on books because books tend to make people feel uncomfortable. The society has designated the firemen as the book burners of the society.
